Fidelio, l'odyssée d'Alice

Lucie Borleteau : 2014
Fidelio: Alice's Journey

Alice, a mechanical engineer, joins the crew of the ship Fidelio. She leaves behind her loving boyfriend, Félix, who waits for her back at port. She soon realises that the Fidelio is an old friend: the first vessel on which she worked, and which is still captained by the man who was the first great love of her life, Gaël, with whom she had an affair that was left unfinished. The powerful return to the past mingles with what Alice reads in a diary she finds in her cabin, which belonged to her predecessor who died on board in strange circumstances. Reading the diary unexpectedly reveals to her aspects of her own life that are difficult to face. Torn between a powerful past love that she could never fully enjoy, the security of a stable relationship and her sometimes irrational desires, Alice risks going under, overpowered by the ghosts that linger onboard the Fidelio. As the days go by, on the high seas or in exotic ports, Alice's physical crossing becomes an emotional voyage from which she will emerge a different person. Lucie Borleteau's feature debut premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2014, and screened in competition at Sevilla European Film Festival 2014.

La ignorancia de la sangre

Manuel Gómez Pereira : 2014
The Ignorance of Blood

Javier Falcón, head of the Homicide Division in Seville, has to solve two different matters in very little time. On the one hand, the kidnapping of a child (the son of Consuelo, his girlfriend) by the Russian mafia, whom he is investigating. On the other, a case of espionage that has to do with an Islamic terrorist group, which an old friend of his has infiltrated, and which is now trying to recruit his adolescent son for the cause. Two active fronts, apparently unconnected, but there are more links between them than Falcón imagines. Based on the best-selling detective novel by Robert Wilson. Manuel Gómez Pereira's thriller premiered at Sevilla European Film Festival 2014.

Test

Aleksandr Kott : 2014
Ispytanie

In a modest house in the midst of the Kazakh steppe lives Tolgat and his gentle, beautiful daughter, Dinara. When he sets off for work she is left behind, and in the evenings she takes care of her weary father. They live a quiet life in the vast plain until two young men fall for the girl. This love triangle will lead to a wholly unexpected turn of events. In August 1953, Muscovite Maxim Smirnov, an assistant cameraman, travels to Semipalatinsk as part of a film crew with a secret mission. Here, in the open spaces of the steppe, he encounters his first love, the young Dinara. Celebrating the simplicity of a secluded life, the film's imagery gently follows the change of seasons, but amidst these idyllic scenes, the signs of Soviet interference appear with the visit of a Russian patrol. The girl discovers a barbed wire fence, which hides a forbidden zone in the middle of the desert. The young people do not know that very soon they will be at the epicentre of events which will forever change not only their lives, but also those of mankind. Here, in Semipalatinsk, in this hot summer, the test of the first hydrogen bomb will take place. A visually stunning and poetic work, shedding light on a dark chapter of Soviet military history. Aleksandr Kott's feature was winner of the Grand Prix and the prize for Best Cinematography when it premiered at Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival 2014, and was named Best International Feature at Altın Portakal Film Festival 2014.

Karpotrotter

Matjaž Ivanišin : 2013
Karpopotnik

A road film about the passage of time and about memory. In the 1970s, young Yugoslav filmmaker Karpo Godina travels with an 8mm camera in his hand across the flatlands of Vojvodina's interior and its sleepy rural areas. The multi-ethnic character of the region was translated into a wide variety of faces, languages and customs. Only fragments have remained from his trip. Forty years later, Slovenian director Matjaž Ivanišin pays tribute to the acclaimed director Godina by retracing his steps through small, remote villages, using the rare preserved fragments and talking to the villagers who still remember Godina's visit. The film is divided in five parts, each about the local character of various villages. Using a multi-layered approach in terms of time and space, it functions as a kind of painful lament over the rural culture of Yugoslavia. Matjaž Ivanišin's documentary had its international premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014, and won the award for Best Documentary at Zagreb Film Festival 2014.

L'altra frontera

André Cruz Shiraiwa : 2014
Another Frontier

A love story between a mother and her son. Hannah, a wealthy upper-class woman, and her son León flee from a domestic war that has isolated their country. They have set their sights on crossing the border, placing all their hopes on "No Man's Land", a refugee camp located at the border that hides a sinister surprise. After a long journey fraught with difficulties, mother and son are finally given shelter at the camp, where they find well-deserved stability but will be subjected to a severely oppressive system, forcing them to compete to be able to stay. Everything falls apart with the appearance of Claus, an old acquaintance who claims to know a secret about Hannah and León that, if brought to light, would endanger their lives. In their struggle to achieve their dream, Hannah and León will be challenged, and the situation will test the limits of their moral boundaries. André Cruz Shiraiwa's feature debut premiered at Sitges International Film Festival 2014.

En août

Jenna Hasse : 2014
In August

It is August, early in the morning. Six-year-old Margaux wakes up. She goes to the window and sees her father putting objects and boxes into his car. Her mother is still sleeping. A story about the final moments between a father and his daughter before he leaves their home – for good, as it seems. Although very young, children like little Margaux can ask very mature and "grown-up" questions and the film tackles the contradictions of Margaux's childish nature and her awareness of the serious nature of the situation she is in. She can smell changes in this August morning – a morning which promises to be a singular and significant moment for the little girl. Margaux will never again be a child in the same way. Jenna Hasse's debut short film premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2014, and screened at Zagreb Film Festival 2014.

Children 404

Pavel Loparev & Askold Kurov : 2014
Дети 404

In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a bill forbidding the "promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors". LGBT youth, now defenceless against insults and intimidation under this "gay propaganda" law, are considered sick, sinful and abnormal. Psychologists, teachers and even parents can be fined or imprisoned for supporting them. Forty-five Russian teens and tweens share their stories through anonymous interviews and video diaries. They detail their humiliations and discriminations, as well as their courageous stands against bullies. Their testimonies are collected online as the Children 404 project, named after the common "error 404 - page not found" web message. The support group's founder struggles within the system to bring public attention and empathy to the victims of this government-endorsed hate, while activist Pasha decides he must leave his homeland altogether if he hopes to find a boyfriend and lead a normal life. Has a new Stone Age arrived in Russia? Pavel Loparev and Askold Kurov's documentary premiered at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2014.

Die kalte Wahrheit

Franziska Meletzky : 2014
The Cold Truth

On a foggy winter night, a young doctor named Helen Liebermann accidentally runs over and kills 18-year-old Moritz Dombrowski. The criminal investigation against her is quickly dropped but the mysterious circumstances of how Moritz came to be alone on that night keep bothering her, leaving behind many unanswered questions which compel her to pursue. What was Moritz doing in the middle of the night in the freezing cold, ten kilometres from the next town, without a jacket, barefoot and cowering in the middle of the road? Neither her work nor her partner Dirk can give her back the strength and confidence that used to constitute her life. While Helen keeps pushing Dirk away, it is her lawyer, Wagner, who seems to be sharing a similarly tragic past that she confides in and asks for help. Together they reconstruct that fateful night and are confronted with the terrifying truth. Inspired by a real case, Franziska Meletzky's TV feature premiered at Filmfest Hamburg 2014.

Naked Island

Tiha K Gudac : 2014
Goli

Some sixty years ago, a man went missing for four years. He returned back a changed man carrying along a painful secret. He later built his family's life around this unspoken of secret. Talking about the past was forbidden in the family. It was his granddaughter, also the director of this film, who first started asking questions, wanting to find out what lay hidden beneath her grandfather's scar covered body ever since childhood. However, he died without revealing the entire story to anyone. Naked Island is an investigation built upon the remnants of the past, a mosaic made of clues – family photos and intimate testimonies of a tight-knit group of people who were brought together by the same place, an island of broken souls, and the consequences that this place left on three generations. At the same time, it is a fascinating portrayal of a moment in which a past can finally become history. Tiha K Gudac's directorial debut was winner of the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film in Documentary Competition when it premiered at Sarajevo Film Festival 2014, and received a Special Mention of the Jury at Zagreb Film Festival 2014.

Lullaby of the Butterfly

Tonia Mishiali : 2014
To nanourisma tis petaloudas

A woman receives a mysterious phone call; that same night she has trouble sleeping, tormented with thoughts. Early the next day she abandons her house, grabs a kitchen knife and sets out on a journey to an unknown destination, leaving 'her life' behind. She is a dynamic woman, whose strong need for something is responsible for her engagement in a strange and mysterious situation. The stranger who communicates with her by telephone, seems to be giving her instructions which she follows with secrecy, fear and anxiety. But she doesn't give up, as this great desire of hers, makes her defy any potential danger and ignore all the possible consequences of her actions. Having left everything behind in her life, she travels to the 'world of unlawfulness'. After driving all day, she parks her car at a remote location and waits for someone, something, in the middle of the night. Tonia Mishiali's short premiered at Sarajevo Film Festival 2014, and was winner of the award for Best Film in the National Competition at Cyprus International Short Film Festival 2014.

Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.

Burhan Qurbani : 2014
We are young. We are strong.

On 24 August 1992 in the eastern German city of Rostock a rampaging mob, to the applause and cheering of more than 3,000 bystanders, besieged and set fire to a residential building containing, among others, more than 120 Vietnamese men, women and children on what has since become known as 'The Night of the Fire'. The riots became a symbol for xenophobia in the just recently reunited Germany. This film recounts the incident from the perspectives of three very different characters. Lien is a Vietnamese woman who settled in Germany, but at the end of the day she will be fighting for her life wondering if the place she called home could ever be one for her. Stefan and his friends are part of the night's violent turmoil. Young and angry, bored during the daytime, they look forward to the nightly riots and clashes with the police and foreigners. Unable to cope with his grief at the loss of a friend, Stefan gets lost in a circle of violence. Stefan's father Martin is an ambitious local politician, trapped in a dilemma: does he advance his career or stand up for his ideals and take responsibility, which includes that for his son? Burhan Qurbani's second feature premiered at Rome Film Festival 2014.

No soy Lorena

Isidora Marras : 2014
I am not Lorena

Actress Olivia is visiting her mentally ailing mother when she gets a peculiar telephone call: a collection agency is looking for one "Lorena Ruiz", insisting that she pay her sizeable, and significantly overdue, phone bill. Olivia maintains that they have the wrong number, and quickly hangs up. But when she begins to receive calls from other collection agencies, Olivia can do nothing to convince them that she is not Lorena Ruiz. A visit to one of the agencies only makes things worse, and the mysterious Lorena's problems start to bleed strangely into Olivia's financial and personal life, until even her family and friends grow suspicious of her. When a stranger calls her cellphone demanding a meeting with Lorena, Olivia determines to take matters into her own hands and track Lorena down, a decision that brings her into contact with the seedier side of Santiago culture. Based on the director's real-life experiences, who for almost two years received calls trying to collect another woman's debts, Olivia's identity is eventually put to question by her surroundings as well as by herself, in this Kafkaesque tale of the horrors of bureaucracy. Isidora Marras's feature debut premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, and had its European premiere at Stockholm Film Festival 2014.

The Connection

Cédric Jimenez : 2014
La French

Newly transferred to the bustling port of Marseille to assist with a crackdown on organised crime, energetic young magistrate Pierre Michel is given a rapid-fire tutorial on the city's out-of-control drug trade. Pierre's wildly ambitious mission is to bring down the French Connection, a highly organised operation that controls the city's underground heroin economy and is overseen by the notorious, and reputedly untouchable, Gaëtan Zampa. Fearless, obsessive and determined to go the distance, Pierre plunges into an underworld of insane danger and ruthless criminals. However, he may just find that the connection reaches closer to him than once thought. Cédric Jimenez's second feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, and had its European premiere at Stockholm Film Festival 2014.

Jack Strong

Władysław Pasikowski : 2014

A spy thriller telling a historically based story of a man who alone dares to challenge the Soviet empire, being deep inside the system himself. Planning the manoeuvres of Warsaw Pact forces, Colonel Ryszard Kukliński of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, discovers that the American plan of nuclear counterattack against Soviet forces is intended to be executed on Polish territory. Like many others, he isn't at ease with what is happening in his country – Poland is becoming more and more communist, and is losing its true identity. He then decides to act. On 11 August 1972, Colonel Kukliński sends a letter from the German port of Wilhelmshaven to the US Embassy in Bonn. Writing in broken English, he asks for a meeting with a US army officer in Amsterdam. This is the beginning of a long, lonely and psychologically exhausting cooperation with the CIA, forwarding classified documents to his American allies and being assigned the codename Jack Strong. From that moment his life and those of his family are in constant danger as one careless move can lead to tragedy. Władysław Pasikowski's feature was winner of the Best Director Award at Gdynia Film Festival 2014.

Black Mulberry

Gabriel Razmadze : 2012
Shavi Tuta

In the mining city of Chiatura, two teenagers spend a day together, far from their respective lives. They are attracted to each other, in spite of all their social differences. Nick, rather silent, is preordained to a life of toil, as his father, in the depths of the mines. Anna, rather cheerful, wants to embrace the hope of a life somewhere else, and plans to leave the city for her studies. Gabriel Razmadze's short screened in competition at International Film Festival Tofifest 2014.

Pantanal

Andrew Sala : 2014

A man runs away from Buenos Aires with a bag full of money. He's going to Brazil, to Pantanal in the state of Mato Grosso. His sole purpose is to repay an outstanding debt and find the brother he lost touch with years ago. Travelling the roads and byways, he meets people who claim to have met his brother. Their testimonies are similar in form to reporter interviews, but you cannot tell which story is true and which is intended to lead him astray. The trip gets complicated. Is he being followed? A road movie blurring the line between fiction and reality. Andrew Sala's feature debut premiered at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

I Am Here

Anders Morgenthaler : 2014

Maria, a powerful business executive has achieved everything except what she wants the most – a baby of her own. When she suffers yet another miscarriage and a doctor informs her that she's too old to carry a baby, Maria's world disintegrates. Refusing to accept her fate, Maria sets out on a desperate and perilous quest to realise her dream of motherhood. She finds a prostitution ring on the Czech border, where infants are supposed to be sold. There she enters a ghastly and dangerous morass of abuse and brutality which will lead her to an end she would never have expected. Anders Morgenthaler's feature premiered at Fantastic Fest 2014, and had its European premiere at Filmfest Hamburg 2014.

Dịu Dàng

Le-Van Kiet : 2014
Gentle

A husband sits over the body of his young wife, who has just committed suicide, and recalls their relationship. Gentle and sensitive Linh grew up in a home where she wasn't treated well. Thien, a pawnshop owner, married Linh and took the parentless girl away from her abusive aunt in order to give her a better life. They were happy at first. With time, Thien demanded more devotion and obedience. Harshness, a lack of feelings and communication made them grow apart. Mental abuse and growing loneliness has led Linh to her tragic end. Capturing the tough and cynical nature of modern life and the cold-bloodedness of capitalists whose only obsession is money, the story is based on the novella A Gentle Creature by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Le-Van Kiet's feature premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2014, and had its European premiere at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

Piąte: nie odchodź

Katarzyna Jungowska : 2014
Fanciful

Roma is fifteen and lives with her father. Though both need to feel wanted, they live separate lives. Absorbed in his work, he is principled and emotionally cold. She lives in a world of dance, youthful rebellion and longing for parental attention. Her life changes with the arrival of a homeless man who moves into a nearby ruin of a building. Suddenly the teenager starts showing symptoms disturbingly similar to those her mother had before she died. The boundary between the real and unreal worlds becomes blurred in Roma's life. The lives of the homeless man and Roma seem to be intertwined. The girl becomes convinced that he is her damaged guardian angel, trapped in a human body. After collapsing yet again, Roma slips into a coma. Driven by fear for his daughter's life, her father tries to rebuild their mutual relations. Katarzyna Jungowska's feature debut premiered in competition at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

Qui vive

Marianne Tardieu : 2014
Insecure

Chérif has not yet found his place in the world. A kind-hearted soul in his mid-thirties, he dreams of working one day as a nurse. This second generation immigrant with roots in the Middle East, spends his days flitting between his parents' house in the suburbs and a shopping centre, where he works as a security guard – a job he doesn't particularly enjoy, especially as he's provoked day in, day out by a gang of teenagers. However, two events could signal a turning point. Firstly, he meets the charming teacher Jenny. And secondly, he bumps into Dedah, an old friend he hasn't seen for ages. Hardly able to believe that Chérif has taken on such poorly paid work, Dedah presents him with an offer. Although his dream of becoming a nurse is within his grasp, Chérif's life begins to waver dangerously and the ghosts of his past return to haunt him. A bold, elegant and intimate portrait of a character teetering between hope and desperation in suburban Brittany. Marianne Tardieu's feature debut premiered at L'ACID au Festival de Cannes 2014.

I Am a Girl

Rebecca Barry : 2013

An inspirational feature-length documentary that paints a clear picture of the reality of what it means to be a girl in the 21st century. Feminism may have promised equality and sought a better and fairer world for women but the reality is that girls make up almost a quarter of the world's population yet still face the greatest discrimination of any group in the world. Being born a girl means you are more likely to be subjected to violence, disease, poverty and disadvantage than any other group on Earth. We meet 14-year-old Kimsey from Cambodia, forced to sell her virginity at the age of 12; Aziza from Afghanistan, who will be shot if she goes to school; Breani, a teen living in a ghetto of New York City and dreaming of stardom; Katie from Australia, who is recovering from a suicide attempt; Habiba from Cameroon, betrothed to a man twenty years her senior; and Manu from Papua New Guinea, about to become a mother at 14, following her first sexual encounter. Presented not as victims of society, but members of an unfair one, each is on the brink of womanhood and dealing with the realities of what it means to grow up female in their world today. As they come of age in the way their culture dictates, we see remarkable heart-warming stories of resilience, hope, courage and a refusal to be second best. Rebecca Barry's film was presented at Oslo's Films from the South Festival 2014, in celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child.

Echoes of Time

Ema Kugler : 2014
Odmevi časa

The greatest human delusion is that individuals are free. The only progress is the development of control over people and limiting their freedom so everyone can serve their rulers. Three dark forces are helping with the enslavement of the masses: religion, politics and the military, all disguised in the shiny coat of democracy. People don't understand that freedom is something of the most personal nature and live in the illusion that there is somebody who will take care of them, that there are rules and higher meanings which can relieve them of taking responsibility for their own acts. For this cheap absolution they give their lives into the hands of the Other. A poetic film with sequences from the borderline of reality and dreams, about human nature, social restrictions and the roles that men and women are forced to play in today's world. Experimental artist Ema Kugler's feature was winner of the Castell Award at Barcelona International Film Festival 2014, and screened in competition at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

Climas

Enrica Pérez : 2014
Climates

Three women living in three regions of Peru. Eva lives in Amazonia, in a tropical climate where it's always humid and hot and the people are happy and friendly. She is a young adolescent girl awakening to her sexuality. Victoria is from Lima which is grey, dark and rainy. This wealthy woman has everything she could wish for: a lovely house, a husband and money; however, she is not happy. She carries a tragic secret which makes her life dull and cold like the city she lives in. Zoraida is the oldest. She lives high up in the Andes, where there's little more to see than snow-covered peaks. This reticent and restrained woman watched her children leave the inhospitable region and move to the city. Completely alone she struggles with her fears and waits to welcome her son after a very long absence. Three unconnected regions, three self-absorbed women, three stories of discovery conditioned by the different geographies, societies and climates of the same fragmented country. Enrica Pérez's film, her feature debut, premiered in competition at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

Viento aparte

Alejandro Gerber Bicecci : 2014
A Separate Wind

A family holiday on the Mexican Pacific coast. One day Omar and Karina's mother suffers a stroke on the beach. The 15-year-old boy and his 12-year-old sister, drifting apart, will start a long journey towards their grandmother's house more than 2,000 kilometres away, close to the US border. Alone they traverse a poor and divided country, full of mistrustful people. Where there is mistrust, there is resentment and anger that can easily turn into violence. So far the siblings haven't been on the best of terms. Now, lost and with only each other to rely on, they have a chance to improve their relations. Diverse characters – strangers in their own land – will lead them, in labyrinthine stages, to their final destination. Alejandro Gerber Bicecci's second feature premiered at Guadalajara Film Festival 2014, and had its European premiere in competition at Warsaw Film Festival 2014.

Loreak

Jon Garaño & José Mari Goenaga : 2014
Flowers

Ane is in her mid-forties and is delighted when a stunning bouquet of flowers is delivered to her home. But she has no idea who to thank. One thing is for sure, her jealous husband, Ander, is not the unknown cavalier. Ane's life then takes on a new direction as these gallantries increase, always on a Thursday and always with an anonymous sender. As she starts to investigate who might have sent them, she is brought into contact with another family who is experiencing their own trauma. The life of Lourdes is also sent into turmoil by beautiful bouquets of flowers. Since the death of her husband in a traffic accident, flowers have been deposited regularly at the scene. In witnessing their inconsolable grief, Ane begins to view her own problems in a very different light. Jon Garaño and José Mari Goenaga's feature premiered at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2014.

Svenskjävel

Ronnie Sandahl : 2014
Underdog

23-year-old Ana "Dino" Dinovic dreams of a different life. Like an abundance of Swedes her age, she has fled the mass unemployment of her home country in search of a more worthwhile existence in a nouveau-riche Oslo. But her new life is caught in deadlock. Dino finds herself stuck in a destructive loop of temporary jobs, financial trouble and hard partying. Family father Steffen is also on the verge of a new beginning. This former tennis pro is trying to build up a sushi bar business in Oslo. With his wife abroad on business, he is completely overwhelmed with the task of taking care of his two daughters. Dino offers her services as a nanny and the strange, carefree Swede manages to win over the hearts of the two girls in no time. But Steffen is also having trouble containing his affection for the almost twenty-year younger woman. During a few sultry summer weeks Dino ends up the centre of an odd love triangle, an unpredictable struggle for affection as well as dominance. Ronnie Sandahl's feature debut was winner of the Critics' Choice Award when it premiered in competition at Zurich Film Festival 2014.

Mon amie Victoria

Jean-Paul Civeyrac : 2014
My Friend Victoria

A complex, poignant portrait of two young women in contemporary Paris. It follows them from childhood into adulthood, with the older Fanny narrating the story of her friend and adoptive sister. Victoria is an eight-year-old black girl from a poor background, who by chance discovers the life of a bourgeois family and marvels at it. Years later, she meets Thomas again, one of the sons of this family. Marie is born of their short love story. Victoria decides not to tell Thomas about her and raises her child alone. When Marie is seven years old, Victoria decides that her daughter should have a better future than she did and turns to this family she had lost sight of. As Fanny and Victoria's destinies take them in separate directions, the drama explores racial identity in contemporary France, and questions of class, privilege and blinkered liberal racism. Adapted from the novel Victoria et les Staveney by Doris Lessing. Jean-Paul Civeyrac's feature premiered at London Film Festival 2014.

The Furthest End Awaits

Chiang Hsiu-chiung : 2014
Saihate nite – Kakegae no Nai Basho

Misaki Yoshida runs a roasting coffee shop in Tokyo. She lives alone. When her father disappears, Misaki is left only with debts and an old family boathouse at the very tip of the Noto Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan. Vowing to make good on her father's obligations, she transforms the boathouse into a small cafe, which becomes a beacon for her local community. Eriko Yamazaki, who works at a cabaret, struggles to identify with her role as the single parent of two young children. Misaki is her new neighbour. As the women's friendship deepens, they begin to influence each other and slowly their lives are transformed. Observing the dynamics of familial responsibility and the quiet nostalgia of grief, Chiang Hsiu-chiung's feature debut is a beautiful and sensitive portrayal of the value of family in today's society. Her film premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2014, and had its European premiere at London Film Festival 2014.

Chrieg

Simon Jaquemet : 2014
War

Fifteen-year-old Matteo is attractive, albeit somewhat girlish and frail. The whole world is against him. At least that's how it seems to him. He has no friends, his parents appear to live on another planet, and his awkward attempts at gaining the respect of his father continually fall flat. One night, Matteo is led away by two men and taken to an isolated alp, where he is to spend the summer working hard in the fields on a family farm. But Matteo gets a surprise whilst up in the mountains. After overpowering their supervisor, the rebellious youths Anton, Dion and Ali take over control and lock the newcomer in a dog pound. Over time, the tortured and humiliated Matteo proves his courage, and is finally accepted by the truculent gang. Together, the youths wage a war – against adults, against society, against everyone and everything. An intense, atmospherically dense coming-of-age drama that burrows deep under the skin. Simon Jaquemet's feature debut premiered at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2014.

Electricity

Bryn Higgins : 2014

When Lily O'Connor, a witty, sexy, searingly defiant Northerner with temporal lobe epilepsy and a traumatic past finds out that the brother she's long thought dead could still be alive, she risks her life to go in search of him. Held back by her regular epileptic seizures – electrical storms in her mind and body that play havoc with even the simplest social scenario – this is a journey through the real world and through the wildly hallucinatory, disturbing inner world of epilepsy. Lily sees everything in terms of angles: you look at every surface, weigh up every corner and think of your head slamming into it. Her epilepsy summons flashbacks, spectral figures, even birds emerging from her throat. And in the wrong place at the wrong time it can kill her. When an inheritance presents itself, Lily abandons her safe routine in a seaside town and heads into the treacherous underbelly of London. Embarking on a quest to find her wayward brother to give him his share, she pushes herself to new physical and emotional limits in an attempt to connect her past and her future. Bryn Higgins's feature premiered at London Film Festival 2014.

The Silent Storm

Corinna McFarlane : 2014

On a remote Scottish island in the 1950s, Aislin lives with her minister husband Balor. He is a man of sudden and violent mood swings, and stern religiosity. Aislin finds consolation from his attitude of wrathful disapproval in the stark beauty of the surrounding countryside. With the other islanders leaving for the mainland in droves, the couple are joined by a Glaswegian youth, entrusted to their care by a religious charity. Balor is initially suspicious of him, but Aislin recognises a kindred spirit in this sensitive young man and their relationship deepens when her husband has to leave the island. Corinna McFarlane's feature debut premiered at London Film Festival 2014.